Stamp club to celebrate state's circus heritage

NORWALK — The Norwalk Stamp Club will celebrate Connecticut’s circus heritage on March 14 with an event at the Norwalk Senior Center.

Stamp collectors and dealers will convene for an annual show at the Allen Road location, which will feature exhibits and trading and buying opportunities for collectors.

“For stamp collectors, the Norwalk Philatelic Exhibition (NORPEX) 2015 will offer a wide variety of items ranging from stamps to first day covers, topical and collateral material and supplies,” said John Leskovsky, the club’s president. “Dealers and club members will be available to evaluate collections brought in by the public.”

Leskovsky said as many as 20 world-class stamp dealers with a global inventory of more than 750,000 stamps and other material will set up booths at the show to serve the needs of collectors.

Artifacts from the P.T. Barnum Museum will be on display at the stamp show, along with the design of the colorful souvenir envelope created by nationally prominent stamp and First Day Cover artist, Christopher Calle.

Calle’s work, Leskovsky said, will also tie in with the eight vintage circus poster stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service last May.

“It’s fitting that the Greatest Show on Earth and the world’s most popular hobby can be celebrated in the home state of one of the most renowned circus founders in American history,” Leskovsky said.

Calle will be on hand at the show to autograph copies of this year’s show cover.

One of his postage stamp designs includes such popular works as the 25th anniversary of the moon landing and the 1988 Connecticut statehood stamp.

NORPEX is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There will be a special booth at the show to cater to youths and beginner stamp collectors and the U.S. Postal Service will be on hand with several unusual philatelic items as well as to offer commemorative stamps.